Cherish those who seek the truth but beware of those who find it.

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Daily Archives: April 29, 2013

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Allen B. West explains the history of America’s progressive tax system, and its influence on wasteful spending. Would you believe that the author of the “Communist Manifesto” inspired our progressive tax system?

Find out more as Col. West wishes the 16th Amendment a very unhappy birthday.

Reductions of security levels prior to the attacks in Benghazi were approved at the highest levels of the State Department, up to and including Secretary Clinton. This fact contradicts her testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on January 23, 2013.

In the days following the attacks, White House and senior State Department officials altered accurate talking points drafted by the Intelligence Community in order to protect the State Department.

Contrary to Administration rhetoric, the talking points were not edited to protect classified information. Concern for classified information is never mentioned in email traffic among senior Administration officials.

The difference Secretary Clinton, President Obama, Ambassador Rice, and all you other Obama regime functionaries is that the U.S. Government is not telling the American people the truth about their national security! The difference it makes is that the U.S. Government owes the American people an honest accounting of how and why their ambassador and three other government employees were murdered while engaged in their official duties for the nation. The difference it makes is that, if the American people cannot trust the U.S. Government to tell them the truth about vital matters, the U.S. Government has undermined the essential bond of faith between the government and the people it is supposed to be serving.

The lies that undermined the bond of faith

The most important lie revealed by the House Republican report was the fabrication that the president told to American people and the UN when he falsely attributed the cause of the Benghazi attack to an obscure YouTube video critical of Islam. Major conclusions of the House Republican report were:

Analysis of the Evolving Drafts of the Talking Points

To protect the State Department, the Administration deliberately removed references to al-Qa’ida-linked groups and previous attacks in Benghazi in the talking points used by Ambassador Rice, thereby perpetuating the deliberately misleading and incomplete narrative that the attacks evolved from a demonstration caused by a YouTube video.

The Administration’s talking points were developed in an interagency process that focused more on protecting the reputation and credibility of the State Department than on explaining to the American people the facts surrounding the fatal attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities and personnel in Libya…

Administration officials have said that modification of the talking points was an attempt to protect classified information and an investigation by the FBI, but the evidence refutes these assertions. Administration officials transmitted and reviewed different drafts of the talking points – many of which included reference to al-Qa’ida-associated groups, including Ansar al-Sharia – over unsecure email systems. Also, there were no concerns about protecting classified information in the email traffic.

The Administration made a conscious decision to focus on the deliberately misleading and incomplete narrative that demonstrations protesting a YouTube video evolved into attacks on the Benghazi Mission.

Analysis At the Time of the Attack

The U.S. government knew immediately that the attacks constituted an act of terror.

After the attacks, the Administration perpetuated a deliberately misleading and incomplete narrative that the violence grew out of a demonstration caused by a YouTube video. The Administration consciously decided not to discuss extremist involvement or previous attacks against Western interests in Benghazi.

The U.S. government immediately had information that the attacks were conducted by al-Qa’ida-affiliated terrorists, yet Administration officials downplayed those connections, and focused on the idea that provocation for violence resulted from a YouTube video. [Emphasis in original]

What follows are some of the more egregious false statements promulgated by the president and secretary of state that deceived the American people concerning the Islamic terrorist origin of the Benghazi attack, while deflecting blame onto a fictitious mob demonstration allegedly protesting an unknown movie trailer on the Internet.

KROFT:Mr. President, this morning you went out of your way to avoid the use of the word terrorism in connection with the Libya Attack, do you believe that this was a terrorism attack?

OBAMA:Well it’s too early to tell exactly how this came about, what group was involved, but obviously it was an attack on Americans. And we are going to be working with the Libyan government to make sure that we bring these folks to justice, one way or the other.

KROFT:It’s been described as a mob action, but there are reports that they were very heavily armed with grenades, that doesn’t sound like your normal demonstration.

OBAMA:As I said, we’re still investigating exactly what happened, I don’t want to jump the gun on this.

…I don’t want to speak to something until we have all the information. What we do know is that the natural protests that arose because of the outrage over the video were used as an excuse by extremists to see if they can also directly harm U.S. interests.

That is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the Muslim world. Now, I have made it clear that the United States government had nothing to do with this video, and I believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity.

It is an insult not only to Muslims… We understand why people take offense to this video because millions of our citizens are among them.

We are working to determine the precise motivations and methods of those who carried out this assault. Some have sought to justify this vicious behavior along with the protests that took place at our embassy in Cairo yesterday as a response to inflammatory material posted on the Internet.

America’s commitment to religious tolerance goes back to the very beginning of our nation. But let me be clear, there is no justification for this. None.

Of the multiple Obama regime lies involved in Benghazigate, the second most egregious deceit that was perpetrated on the American people was Secretary Clinton’s fraudulent claim that she had no responsibility for the inadequate security situation of the Benghazi diplomatic mission. Again, the House Republican report exposed her mendacity.

Multiple Committees have reviewed the State Department documents cited in the previous sections and remain concerned that the documents do not reconcile with public comments Secretary Clinton made regarding how high in the State Department the security situation and requests were discussed.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Ambassador Cretz sent a cable to Secretary Clinton requesting additional security assets. Specifically, he asked for the continued deployment of both Mobile Security Detachment (MSD) teams, or at least additional DS agents to replace them, as well as the full five DS agents which the December 2011 memorandum claimed would be stationed in Benghazi.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

State responded to Ambassador Cretz’s request for additional security assets. The cable response to Tripoli bears Secretary Clinton’s signature, and specifically acknowledges Ambassador Cretz’s March 28 request for additional security. Despite the Ambassador’s March request, the April cable from Clinton stipulates that the plan to drawdown security assets will proceed as planned.

Conclusions

The House Republican report disclosed Obama’s and Clinton’s falsification of the Islamic terrorist character of the jihadist attack on the Benghazi mission as instead a spontaneous mob protest that grew increasingly violent, resulting in the deaths of four U.S. officials. Additionally, the report has indicated that Clinton lied to Congress about her responsibility for the deficient physical security of the Benghazi mission. These two lies stand out among the many interwoven in the Obama regime’s disgraceful handling of Benghazigate and have clearly broken the bond of faith between Obama and the American people.

Col. Thomas Snodgrass, USAF (retired) served over a year in Peshawar, Pakistan, working with Pakistani military intelligence, and he was variously an Intelligence Officer or an International Politico-Military Affairs Officer in assignments in six other foreign countries during a thirty-year military career. Additionally, he was awarded a year’s educational sabbatical to teach and write as an Air Force Research Associate at the Center for Advanced International Studies, University of Miami, Florida. He has taught history at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Arizona, for ten years after his military service. Read his previous articles.